Lieu
/luː/noun
A place, especially as used in the phrase “in lieu of,” meaning instead of or in place of.
Did you know?English inherited lieu through Anglo-French legal language, while its deeper Latin ancestor locus also produced the English words local and locate.
Etymological Timeline
Proto-Indo-European
PIE
*stel-
“To put or stand; a proposed ancestral root connected with placing or establishing something.”
Classical Latin
Latin
locus
“A place, position, or site.”
Late Latin
Latin
locum
“The accusative form of locus, meaning “a place” or “to a place.””
9th–12th Century
Old French
leu / lieu
“A place, site, or position.”
Middle English
English
lieu
“A place or position, especially in formal and legal expressions.”
Modern English
English
lieu
“A place or substitute position, chiefly in “in lieu of,” meaning instead of.”